Air cleaners



Oct. 21,v 1958 I Q H, E (:QVERLEY 2,857,016

' AIR CLEANERS Filed Jan. 5, 1956 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Inventor Oct. 21, 1958 H. E. COVERLEY 2, 7,

AIR CLEANERS Filed Jan. 5. 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnvehtor Ja azffzzzesf fez/e1 2; Attorney AIR CLEANERS Harold E. Coverley, Redbourn, England, assignor to General MotorsCorporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application January 5, 1956, Serial No. 557,521

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 5, 1955 2 Claims. (Cl. 183-43) This invention relates to air cleaners for internal combustion engines and is concerned with those in which the air impinges on the surface of a bath of liquid, or oil, in one container and thereby carries some of the liquid into a mass of filter material in a second container secured to the first.

By the invention the construction of such air cleaners is simplified and obstruction to the'passage of air therethrough is reduced by making the containers for the filter material and the oil with formation which may be interengaged to secure the containers together by relative rotation of the two containers.

The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and how it can be carried into effect is hereinafter particularlydescribed withreference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a part sectional elevation of one embodiment of an air cleaner according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail section illustrating a second embodiment of the invention; and

Fig. 3 is a part sectional elevation of a third embodiment of the invention in which the air cleaner is combined with an air silencer.

The air cleaner shown in Fig. 1 has a container for liquid formed as an annular trough 1, the inner wall 2 of which is formed at its upper end with a rolled screw thread 3, it lower portion being of slightly larger diameter so as to fit on one end of a tube 4, the other end of which is adapted to be connected in known manner with an engine carburetter intake, the tube 4 and the liquid container wall 2 being secured together by. spot Welding.

The container for the filter material of the air cleaner 'is formed as an annular trough 5, the base of which has air inlet openings 6 and a spacer member 7 to maintain it at the desired distance above the intended level of the oil which is placed in the liquid container 1. The container is filled with filter material such as woven wire mesh 8 and its inner wall 9 is formed with a rolled screw thread 10 which is threaded on to the screw thread 3 of the liquid container 1. The outer walls 11 and 12 of the containers 1 and 5 respectively are spaced apart to form an annular air inlet passage 13 leading to the inlet openings 6, and the container 5 is covered by a dished annular plate 14 formed with air outlets 15, and having an inner re-entrant portion 16 which is clamped over the upper end of the wall 9 of the filter material container 5, thereby securing the woven wire mesh 8 in position therein. The re-entrant 16 is formed with a shoulder 17 between which and the upper end of the inner wall 2 of the liquid container 1 a sealing ring 18 is clamped when the two containers are screwed together. Clamped to the upper end of the outer wall 12 of the filter material container 5 is a circular plate 19 which covers and is spaced from the annular plate 14.

The liquid container 1 may have its inner wall 2 secured to the tube 4 by means of a rolled screw r 2,857,016 Patented Oct. 21, 1958 welding of these two parts.

The two containers 1, 5 of the liquid'bath air cleaner described, or the two containers 1, 5 and the tube 4, are secured by screwing one on to the other. By this construction the passage of air from the filter material 8 to the tube 4 is not impeded by a bolt and a bridge piece therein such as have hitherto been used to connect together the parts of air cleaners of this kind.

In the second embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 2 the re-entrant portion 17 of the annular plate 14 shown in Fig. 1 is omitted and the sealing between the containers 1 and 5 is obtained by forming a shoulder 20 near the upper end of the inner wall 2 of the container 1, the sealing ring 18 being interposed between the shoulder 20 and the base of the container 5. The construction of this embodiment is otherwise the same as that described in relation to Fig. 1 and the connection between the inner wall 2 of the container 1 and the tube 4 may be effected either by means of interengaging rolled screw threads 21, 22, on each as shown, or, as in the form of construction shown in Fig. 1, by means of spot welding.

In the third embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 3 the liquid bath air cleaner is combined with an air silencer 23. The construction of the air cleaner is the same as that shown in Fig. 1 with the exception that the air which passes through the filter material 8 is taken to the carburetter by way of the air silencer 23, which is secured to the container 5 in the place of the cover plate 19, the tube 4 therefore being replaced by a cup member 24 which is secured, as by spot welding, to the inner wall 2 of the liquid container 1. The cup mem ber 24 is preferably provided with a central nut 25 welded or otherwise secured thereto whereby the air cleaner may be secured by a bolt to a bracket or other part of an internal combustion engine. The air silencer 23 has an outlet tube 26 which is adapted to be connected to the intake of an engine carburetter.

In any of the forms of the invention described above the interengaging screw thread formations on the parts may be replaced by bayonet joint formations.

I claim:

1. An air cleaner for internal combustion engines and the like and comprising, inner and outer containers having annular inner and outer walls and end walls extending between said inner and outer walls, said inner and outer walls being disposed in overlapping relation with said inner container extending Within and movable inwardly and outwardly of said outer container through an open end of said outer container, said open end of said outer container being open to the atmosphere around and outwardly of said inner container when said containers are in assembled relation, interlocking formations formed on said inner overlapping walls of said containers and engaged by relative rotation of said containers to secure said containers in said assembled relation, oppositely disposed shoulder means formed in said inner overlapping walls and disposed in engagement with one another and limiting the inward movement of said inner container through said open end of said outer container when said containers are disposed in said assembled relation, said outer walls of said containers and the adjacent end walls of said containers at the ends of said containers opposite said open end of said outer container being spaced to provide an inlet and an inlet chamber leading from said open end of said outer container through the space between said outer walls of said containers to the space between said adjacent end walls of said containers, a cover secured to said outer wall of said inner container and extending over said inner wall of said inner container and being spaced from the adjacent end of said inner wall of said inner container to provide an outlet chamber communicating with said end of said inner wall of said inner container, said inner wall of said inner container and said inner wall of said outer container forming an outlet leading through said adjacent end walls of said inner and outer containers, perforations formed in said end walls of said inner container to provide communication between said inlet chamber and said outlet chamber, and filter means in said inner container for cleaning air circulating through said cleaner from said inlet to said outlet.

2. An air cleaner for internal combustion engines and the like and comprising, inner and outer containers having annular inner and outer walls and end walls extending between said inner and outer walls, said inner and outer walls being disposed in overlapping relation with said inner container extending within and movable inwardly and outwardly of said outer container through an open end of said outer container, said open end of said outer container being open to the atmosphere around and outwardly of said inner container when said containers are in assembled relation, interlocking formations formed on said inner overlapping walls of said containers and engaged by relative rotation of said containers to secure said containers in said assembled relation, oppositely disposed shoulder means formed in said inner overlapping walls and disposed in engagement with one another and limiting the inward movement of said inner container through said open end of said outer container when said containers are disposed in said assembled relation, said outer walls of said containers and the adjacent end walls of said containers at the ends of said containers opposite said open end of said outer container being spaced to provide an inlet and an inlet chamber leading from said open end of said outer container through the space between said outer walls of said containers to the space between said adjacent end walls of said containers, a cover secured to said outer wall of said inner container and extending over said inner wall of said inner container and being spaced from the adjacent end of said inner wall of said inner container to provide an outlet chamber communicating with said end of said inner wall of said inner container, said inner wall of said inner container and said inner wall of said outer container forming an outlet leading through said adjacent end walls of said inner and outer containers, perforations formed in said end walls of said inner container to provide communication between said inlet chamber and said outlet chamber, and filter means in said inner container for cleaning air circulating through said cleaner from said inlet to said outlet and wherein an other Wallis disposed in overlapping relation to one of said inner overlapping walls, said another wall having an end abutting said shoulder means when said another wall is in assembled relation, said another wall being secured in said assembled relation by interlocking formations on said walls, said interlocking formations also being engaged by relative rotation of said walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,005,386 Whiting Oct. 10, 1911 2,340,152 Steensen Jan. 25, 1944 2,509,802 Blair et al. May 30, 1950 2,570,623 Wistor Oct. 9, 1951 2,660,261 Jefirey Nov. 24, 1953 

